Is a College Degree Still the Great Equalizer? Intergenerational Mobility across Levels of Schooling in the United States

Education as the great equalizer: a theoretical framework

“…Similarly, van de Werfhorst (2002) reports no direct effect of class of origin on class of destination for Dutch men. One should note, however, that Torche (2011) for the US and Ganzeboom and Luijkx (2004) for the Netherlands document a direct effect of social origin on class of destination.…”

“…Hout's (1988) original finding that the importance of social origin declines for the highly educated was confirmed in Norway (Mastekaasa 2011), while Torche's (2011) Fabrizio Bernardi and Gabrielle Ballarino -9781785360442 Downloaded from Elgar Online at 05/12/2018 09:06:21PM via free access in-depth study for the US documents a U-shaped pattern, so that the direct parental influence is stronger among persons with low educational attainment and those with advanced university degrees, while it disappears among bachelor's degree-holders. With regard to returns to education over time, for the US there is also solid evidence that the earnings premium associated with tertiary education has increased dramatically since 1980.…”

“…This entails studying the three-way OED interaction. Recent studies have accordingly investigated whether the OD association is weaker among individuals with a college education (Mastekaasa 2011;Torche 2011). In this regard, it has been argued that the labour market for the highly educated operates more meritocratically, with less space for social origins to influence occupational attainment (Breen and Jonsson 2007;Hout 1988).…”

Plastic and immobile: Unequal intergenerational mobility by genetic sensitivity score within sibling pairs

“…We know, for example, that intergenerational mobility varies across multiple dimensions, including nation (Ermisch et al 2012;Breen 2004;Solon 2002;Erikson and Goldthorpe 1992; DiPrete and Grusky 1990), time (Breen 2004), regional differences such as local tax expenditures (Chetty et al 2013, occupational category (Erikson and Goldthorpe 1992;Featherman and Hauser 1978), level of education (Torche 2011;Breen and Jonsson 2005;Hout 1988), and measure, including economic, educational, cognitive, and behavioral characteristics (Ermisch et al 2012;Duncan et al 2005).…”

Educational Inequality and Quality of Life: A Comparative Study of Secondary Schools in Central and Northern Uganda

“…Just like in other parts of the world, Europe inclusive, employers, when screening potential candidates for vacant positions, are more interested in their educational qualification and skills and not any other characteristics such as cultural background or social connections [9]. Accordingly, employers are likely to ,evaluate additional 'signals', such as field of study, type of institution or program level in potential candidates for vacant positions [10][11][12]. It is for this reason that most families in Uganda, prefer to send their children to privately owned schools which are highly rated in terms of educational standards while, for low income families their children mainly go to government owned schools whose educational standards in most cases do not match the privately owned schools.…”